FAYETTEVILLE — If it’s Tuesday, the University of Arkansas baseball team must be playing an in-state opponent.
When the No. 3 Razorbacks (28-7) play Arkansas State University (7-24) at 6:30 tonight at Baum-Walker Stadium, it will mark the fourth consecutive Tuesday that Arkansas has played one of the other four NCAA Division I programs in the state.
Arkansas beat the University of Arkansas-Little Rock 16-8 on March 29, beat the University of Central Arkansas 21-9 on April 5 and swept a doubleheader from the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 15-0 and 6-0, on April 12.
Th e R a zo r ba c k s a re scheduled to play a f ifth consecutive Tuesday night game against an in-state team when they take on UCA on April 26 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
Arkansas in 2019 ended its long-standing policy of not scheduling in-state teams and now regularly plays the other Division I programs in a variety of sports.
Dave Van Horn, in his 20th season as the Razorbacks’ baseball coach, was a proponent of playing instate teams and helped bring about the seismic change approved by the Arkansas administration.
“I think Dave is a big promoter of baseball in the state of Arkansas,” said ASU Coach Tommy Raffo, whose Red Wolves also are scheduled to also play the Razorbacks at 4 p.m. Wednesday. “He sees the big picture and knows it helps bring awareness to college baseball in the state when we have five D-I schools and everybody’s playing each other now.
“I think it’s tremendous for the kids growing up in the state of Arkansas.” UALR beat the Razorbacks 17-7 in 2019, providing fuel for the narrative that playing in-state teams is a no-win situation for Arkansas. But the Razorbacks ended the 2019 season with their most recent of 10 appearances in the College World Series, and since then are 11-0 against in-state teams.
“I think it’s good for the state, obviously,” Van Horn said of in-state matchups. “And I think it probably makes it easier for us scheduling-wise, because it’s tough to get teams to come here in April for midweek games.
“It gives us more of an opportunity to stay at home. It’s hard enough playing on the weekend when you’ve got to play the competition that we do.
“If you can stay home and play somebody on a Tuesday and a Wednesday or one of those days, you just feel a little more rested even though you’re going to head way off to Florida or wherever the case may be and play.” Van Horn said the other Division I teams in Arkansas play with great effort against the Razorbacks.
“I told our guys a couple years ago when we started playing them, we’re not going to beat these people every time,” Van Horn said. “They’re going to beat us. It’s baseball.
“Arkansas State, they’ve struggled a little bit this year, but they just beat Little Rock in two one-run games, and I thought Little Rock was pretty good [when the Trojans played the Razorbacks].
“So you take a day off mentally, you’ll get beat.” ASU ended a seven-game losing streak by beating UALR 6-5 and 7-6 on the road on Thursday and Friday before Saturday’s series finale was canceled because of inclement weather.
Nine of the Red Wolves’ losses have been by two or fewer runs or in extra innings.
“We’ve had a lot of [close] games and we didn’t perform well in those situations whether it be on the mound, defensively or at the plate,” Raffo said. “With the games in the balance, we were much better in Little Rock.” Arkansas third baseman Cayden Wallace, a sophomore from Greenbrier, said he looks forward to playing in-state teams.
“I think it’s really exciting to play in-state teams, especially being from the state,” said Wallace, whose father Mike was a starting quarterback for the UCA football team in the late 1980s. “I’ve been to all the games growing up. I’ve been to each campus.
“I think it’s just important for the state, and it’s good competition. They’re good teams. I think it’s a lot of fun. I enjoy it more than anything.” Arkansas junior second baseman Robert Moore’s father, Dayton Moore, is president of baseball operations for the Kansas City Royals. The family lives in Leawood, Kan.
“I never knew that it was a big deal for in-state teams to come play here because I’m from Kansas,” Moore said. “I just know from being in the games, you definitely have to come to play to win — to win your at-bats, to make plays in the field and not give them anything, because they’re really competitive.” Senior right-hander Kole Ramage (1-2, 4.05 ERA) will start for Arkansas tonight. He retired all nine batters he faced against UAPB last week. ASU listed senior right-hander Carter Holt (0-1, 8.10 ERA) as its probable starting pitcher.
“We’ve got a lot of guys we need to pitch,” Raffo said. “So you’ll see the whole staff.” The Razorbacks are 23-4 in their last 27 games, including a three-game sweep of LSU last weekend to stay atop the SEC West with an 11-4 record.
“They’re outstanding,” Raffo said. “They’ve got three different ways to beat you, whether it be on the bump and shutting you down, suffocating you on defense and making plays or banging it offensively when they need to do that.
“They’re a well-rounded team and a team that’s going to go a long way this year.”